章 174: CHAPTER {218-220}
****CHRISTMAS-BLUES (IV)****
~~Bones Manor~~
Amelia finally returned with her niece in tow and slumped down on the couch while mentally preparing for the upcoming conversation. There was clear tension in the air, especially with last night's catastrophic attack and then the reveal of You-Know-Who's return in such a striking manner.
"Auntie, what is happening? Is it true that… You-Know-Who is back?" Susan Bones asked in a barely audible tone. From the looks on her face, she was worried that if she spoke too loudly, You-Know-Who might hear her. Amelia grimaced at that… Her niece needed to grow a backbone, especially with what she was planning to do.
"Have a seat" Amelia gestured toward the couch and when her niece was finally seated, Amelia started to speak. "Yes, he is back. He has been back for quite some time" Amelia answered honestly, and Susan seemed to pale at the revelation and her whole body started to tremble in fear.
She knew that the last War was really horrible and her parents were also killed during the last War by Death Eaters, so it was obvious that she was scared at the prospect of another War… She didn't want to lose any of her friends or her Aunt as her Aunt was the only family she had left.
"How? How did he return?" Susan asked, just out of curiosity even though a part of her didn't want to know the answer. As a Pureblood Witch who was supposed to take over the Family after coming to age, Rituals were not a foreign concept to her even though she wasn't planning to use one.
"I don't know…" Amelia revealed with a sigh. "The only thing we know for certain is that he is back and last night, he also freed his followers from Azkaban" Amelia added after taking a deep breath.
"Then was the attack on Hogwarts a simple distraction?" Susan asked in a frantic tone.
"No, it wasn't Voldemort who attacked Hogwarts. It was Harry Potter" Amelia slowly explained and Susan practically flinched at the mention of Voldemort's name. "It's just a name, Susan. Grow a spine. With him back, we need to be strong, we can't flinch every time his name is mentioned" Amelia snapped.
"Okay" Susan gave her a hesitant nod, but there was a determined glint in her eyes.
"Good" Amelia nodded her head in satisfaction. "Now, there is something else I wanted to show you" She said with a hint of nervousness in her voice before she used her Wand to summon a piece of paper from the nearby table. She seemed to hesitate once again before she finally handed over the paper to Susan, who was looking at her Aunt curiously.
"This is the list of people who are responsible for killing your parents" Amelia revealed and Susan's eyes grew wide in surprise before she glanced back at the paper and she started to read the names off the list, anger and hatred started to bubble inside her mind. Most of the people on the list were the so-called upstanding citizens of Wizarding Britain.
"Where did you get this?" Susan asked in an enraged tone.
"Harry Potter, he gave me that list and it was Severus Snape who sold out your parents" Amelia revealed and Susan's eyes grew wide for the second time before she started to ground her teeth in anger. "We are invited to a Christmas dinner he is hosting tomorrow if we choose to accept" Amelia added with a hint of trepidation in her voice.
Susan wasn't certain why the invitation really mattered, but Harry Potter was a criminal, right? "What about your job?" Susan asked with a frown.
The trepidation Amelia was feeling increased by several folds, but there was no point in trying to hide the fact… "I lost my job last night" Amelia decided to rip off the bandaid and Susan was so surprised that the list dropped from her hand while she started to gape like a fish out of water.
Amelia realized that this conversation was going to take much longer than she had planned…
~~Greengrass Manor~~
Daphne Greengrass was led into her father's study along with her sister, Astoria Greengrass. Their mother was already there and from the look on their father's face, they knew something very serious must have happened… Well, neither of the sisters could blame him, now that it was public knowledge that the Dark Lord was back.
Daphne started to wonder if her father was already being coerced by the Death Eaters into supporting their cause or joining their ranks… Daphne clenched her fists in anger while gritting her teeth. Everything was happening much quicker than it happened in her own dimension, but she was no longer the weak girl when she came to this dimension.
"Take a seat" Cyrus Greengrass said in a grim tone. Both Daphne and Astoria sat down before they glanced toward their mother, who looked equally grim as their father.
"A few months ago I was approached by Lucius Malfoy. He wanted me to support him in a venture and in return I wanted the Contract nullified" Cyrus started to explain, but he didn't even need to finish the whole story before everything started to click inside Daphne's mind.
"He wanted you to support him in his plan to become Harry Potter's guardian?" Daphne asked, but it was more of a statement than a question. Cyrus and Angelica, both looked surprised at her deduction, but Cyrus ended up nodding his head. Daphne internally groaned in frustration.
She had been wondering why her father decided to support Lucius Malfoy of all people in his plan, but now she had the answer and to be honest, she couldn't fault him… How was he supposed to know that Harry Potter was dangerous as fuck! "And now Harry Potter wants a pound of our flesh" Daphne stated as she started to release her Magic.
"Yes, we are invited to the Christmas dinner he is hosting tomorrow night and according to him our presence is mandatory" Cyrus finished grimly and Daphne cursed inside her mind. She wasn't sure, but there were some rumors saying that Gellert Grindelwald was working with Harry Potter and if that was true, they were screwed and not in a good way.
Daphne cursed her luck before she started to wonder how to deal with this mess as running was clearly not an option…
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****THE-MERRY-YULE (I)****
~~Malfoy Manor~~ (December 25th, 1994)
"Stop dragging me, Sirius" Harry drawled blandly, but his overly excited Godfather, who was also dressed as the Old Saint Nicholas, chose to ignore his words as the man continued to drag him through the manor. The duo finally arrived in the drawing room and the whole room was filled with Christmas decorations.
"I am surprised that he is still alive" Tonks griped unhappily when she noticed Sirius enter the room with his unhappy Godson in tow.
"My Godson is a man of taste, so I didn't have to wake him up" Sirius snorted in amusement. "He was already up by the time I reached his room" Sirius added with a mocking grin.
"I did tell you that he likes to get up early" Jacklyn recalled in a sour tone.
"There is no reason to feel so sour!" Sirius defended his actions. "Where is all of your Christmas energy?" Sirius asked in a passionate tone. It was 4 am when he woke up and after getting dressed to look like Santa Claus, he woke up all the residents in the house except for Lucius as he didn't like the man.
"Not all of us are a child at heart like you, Sirius" Andi pointed out, but Sirius simply gave her a mock outraged look before he looked around at everyone. "We are also excited for Christmas, but not at this ungodly hour. The sun isn't even up yet!" Andi complained and Sirius simply hummed in indignation before he started to pout like a child.
"I don't mind… I am excited about Christmas" Surprisingly, it was Harry who decided to agree with Sirius' line of thinking. The first time he was able to celebrate Christmas was after he managed to run away from the Dursleys. The celebration wasn't anything big, but for the first time he enjoyed the day, even though he only had Norton and his Mom, who was trapped inside his head for company.
And the first time he got to celebrate Christmas with the others was when he was in his first year at Ilvermorny… So, he could understand why Sirius was excited and to be honest, he didn't want to ruin the mood…
"See, my Godson gets it!" Sirius exclaimed cheerfully before he slung his arm around Harry and started to laugh like Santa Claus.
"But you didn't look happy when he was dragging you around" Tonks pointed out dumbly. She wasn't happy being woken up so early in the morning even though it was Christmas, especially with how hectic yesterday was. The Minister and his pet toady were dead, and while the death of the toady itself was celebration worthy, the Junior Aurors were being run ragged by Senior Aurors who were nothing more than headless chickens.
With Amelia Bones gone, there was nobody to hold the helm of the DMLE and with the Minister gone too, they were yet to get a new Director of the DMLE. Only a Minister could appoint a new Director, which meant that they needed to wait until a new Minister or a temporary Minister was appointed by the Wizengamot.
The Wizengamot could appoint a new Director of the DMLE, but they could only do that if Wizarding Britain was in a state of war. Unfortunately for the people of Wizarding Britain, even with the undeniable proof that You-Know-Who was back, Wizarding Britain was not in a state of war and to be honest, she wasn't sure if it was Voldemort who killed the Minister and his pet toady.
Instead, she would bet her gold on Harry… According to the interview published by Rita Skeeter, Bellatrix Lestrange was the one who kidnapped Dolores Umbridge from her home, but the last time Tonks had seen the deranged woman at Azkaban, the woman was extremely weak and malnourished, so there was no way that the woman could have kidnapped Dolores Umbridge from her home until she was back in shape.
And the last time she checked, it was impossible for such a heavily malnourished woman to get back into shape in a matter of a few hours… Even with Magic, it was supposed to take at least a couple of months. That was her first clue and then there was the fact tha Rita was a member of Lost Garden.
Even after she managed to conclude that it was Harry and not You-Know-Who who killed the Minister and his Undersecretary, she wasn't as upset as she expected herself to be and at the end of the day, she was only an ickle junior Auror. So if none of the Senior Aurors could come up with the same conclusion, then it was not her place to say anything, and as long as she was concerned, Harry did the world a favor by killing them.
Additionally, it was her day off so it would be kind of wrong of her to investigate such a high-level crime, especially with her being a Junior Auror, and she wasn't assigned to the case in the first place, so she didn't want to step on anyone's toes… It should never be said that Nymphadora Vulpecula Tonks wasn't a thoughtful colleague…
"I don't like being dragged around" Harry corrected the misunderstanding. "So, what now? Do we start unpacking the gifts?" Harry asked as glanced toward the gifts lying under the Christmas tree.
"No, that would have to wait" Narcissa, who was sitting beside her grumpy son, while calmly sipping tea spoke up for the first time, but what surprised Harry was the fact that Draco was yet to say anything since he arrived. From what he had seen inside Lucius' mind, Draco was a sissy who wanted to make his daddy proud and he was very much similar to his father when it came to the topic of blood status.
But here he was, sitting beside his mother like a good little boy. From the looks of it, he wasn't happy and it looked like he had eaten something sour, but still, he was keeping his mouth shut… It seemed like Narcissa had some really strong words with her son after she returned to the Manor with her son in tow and honestly, Harry was quite curious to know what she had said to him to make him act so docile.
"First, we will get something to eat and then we will open the gifts" Narcissa declared, without leaving any room for arguments and from the looks of it, even Sirius didn't want to argue with her at this moment.
It didn't take them long to get something to eat as Narcissa had already ordered Alef to cook something for them and as soon as they were done with the food, they made their way toward the tree, looking excited…
"So, who is going to go first?" Tonks asked excitedly.
"Why don't you go first, you look the most excited even though you were complaining some time ago" Harry suggested and when the others seemed to agree with Harry, she started to tear the wrapping of the closest package addressed to her. There was a helmet inside the package and Tonks could only stare at the package with a weird look on her face before she turned toward the person who gave her the helmet.
Yeah, she was clumsy, but there was no reason to give her a helmet as a Christmas gift, especially when her head was pretty strong… "Why the helmet?" Tonks asked dumbly as she continued to stare at the damn thing.
"I would say it is a thoughtful gift" Andi chimed in.
"Well, I thought, it would go nicely with your hair. It is Charmed to change color with your hair" Sirius, the person responsible for gifting her helmet, answered.
Tonks stared at the helmet for a moment before a grin finally surfaced on her face. "Really? That's really cool!" Tonks exclaimed looking excited before all of a sudden she gasped and turned toward her parents. "Did you guys finally get me a bike?" Tonks asked giddily, only to receive frowns from her parents.
Andi shared a look with her husband before she started to speak. "We love you, sweetheart, but it is for the good of people on the street that you don't get a bike, ever" Andi stated firmly and Tonks seemed to fume for a moment before she decided to move on to her next gift.
The rest of the gifts she received weren't anything special until she got to the biggest package lying with the rest of her gifts. After reading Harry's name on the package, she started to gently tear through the wrapping and the contents of the package was finally revealed to her, she squealed like a little girl before she lunged at Harry.
From now on, Harry was on top of her favorite person list… "Thank you, thank you, thank you!!" Tonks continued to hug him like there was no tomorrow.
"A Firebolt?! Harry, I thought you were careful!" Andi exclaimed, looking concerned. After watching her daughter look so excited, she wasn't able to stop herself from taking a peek inside the package.
"Don't worry, Andi. I have modified the broom with her track record in my mind" Harry defended himself smoothly after Tonks finally let him go. "That is the safest Firebolt in the world. Tonks would need to say the safe word to disengage herself from the broom" Harry explained, earning a few chuckles and a blush from Tonks.
'Don't worry, it is also the fastest Firebolt in the world right now and the safe word is guava' Tonks read the note that came along with the broom and a smile tugged on her lips…
After that, the rest continued with their gifts until it was finally Sirius' turn. After opening a couple of gifts, he finally grabbed the smallest package and the said package was from Harry. He wasn't sure what was in the package, but he was probably most excited since it was from his Godson. He hurriedly tore through the package, only to gape at the contents of the package.
He slowly pulled out the key from the package and held it in the air for everyone to see… "Is this what I think it is?" Sirius asked in a disbelieving tone.
"Why don't you go out and see for yourself?" Harry suggested and Sirius immediately hushed toward the outside of the house with Tonks high on his heel as she could already guess the gift he received from Harry. Sirius arrived near the entrance of the Manor only to find a red Ducati Monster waiting for him.
Sirius squealed like a little girl as he rushed toward the bike… All in all, it was a really joyful day for all the residents of the Malfoy Manor… Well, not everyone as Lucius didn't receive any gifts from anyone except for his son…
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****THE-MERRY-YULE (II)****
Daphne Greengrass arrived just outside the Malfoy Manor along with the rest of her family… Even though they weren't willing guests, all of them were dressed for the occasion since they had a reputation to keep. Moments later, a couple of other people landed beside them. The Greengrasses easily recognized the newest arrivals as Amelia Bones was a pretty well-known figure within Wizarding Britain and Susan Bones was in the same year as Daphne.
"Madam Bones" Cyrus Greengrass curtly greeted the new arrivals as it was expected of him.
"The title won't be necessary anymore, Lord Greengrass" Amelia replied politely and Cyrus' eyes grew wide in shock as he realized the meaning behind her words and he wasn't the only one to reach the said conclusion. Angelica and Daphne also realized what the woman was trying to convey.
"So, Cornelius dismissed you before his untimely demise" Cyrus stated with a nod of his head. He knew very well what sort of man Cornelius really was, so he wasn't surprised to learn that he wanted Amelia Bones to take the fall for all the mess, but he passed away before he could complete his plan.
"Yes" Amelia deadpanned before she gave the Greengrasses a look over. "I believe we should head in" With that said, Amelia started to head toward the gates of Malfoy Manor with her niece walking beside her. Susan glanced toward Daphne wondering why the Greengrasses were here, but she dwindle for long.
Even though she was right in front of the place, she still couldn't remember the name of this place no matter how much she tried and it was the same for Cyrus and the rest of his Family. Amelia wondered how Harry managed to accomplish such a task since they could clearly see the manor… Maybe he cast the Fidelius Charm on the whole property instead of casting it on just the manor.
Cyrus grimly nodded his head before he also started to make his way toward the gates of Malfoy Manor with his family in tow. As soon as Amelia and Susan arrived in front of the gates, the gates unlocked with a loud clang and started to open on their own…
"Welcome, I am Norton and I will be guiding you. Please be following Norton" A house elf, dressed in a proper uniform greeted them. The well-uniformed house elf surprised all the guests as they had never seen a house elf wearing a uniform. Though that wasn't all, the house elf spoke very clearly unlike the other house elves they have seen and the uniform also carried the insignia of the House of Potter.
"You are the Potter Family house elf?" Amelia asked, trying to break the silence after the house elf started to lead them through the manor.
"Yes, Norton been serving the Potter Family for nearly five decades" The house elf answered and Amelia realized that Norton was probably the one who helped Harry learn his heritage and then escape Britain. "Master Hadrain be waiting for you" The house elf stopped and gestured toward the door as he moved to the side.
Amelia raised her brows at the name the house elf used… 'So, his real name is Hadrian, good to know' Amelia decided internally. It wasn't like she could use his name for anything, but it was good to know his real name, but she couldn't help but wonder why he decided to reveal his real name now… Though for a moment she didn't think that it was a slip on his part.
The Ministry was done for just because they kept underestimating him when they shouldn't have, but who could have imagined that a fourteen year old could crush them like insects…
"Thank you" Amelia thanked the house elf before she entered the room with Susan. To be honest, she was starting to feel somewhat nervous, but she was determined to see it through, otherwise, she wouldn't have accepted the invitation in the first place. The invitation came along with the head of Igor Karkaroff and Harry or Hadrian was quite clear that it was completely up to her to accept the invitation.
"Ms Bones" Harry greeted Amelia with a nod before he turned toward Susan. "Ms Bones" He greeted her too with a similar nod. "Welcome, please have a seat" Harry said as he gestured toward the couch in front of him. Then he glanced behind them. "Lord Greengrass and family, please have a seat" Harry greeted the man with a polite smile on his face as he gestured toward the couch to his right.
"Mr Potter" Amelia greeted back with a nod as she sat down and Susan also followed her auntie's example before she sat down. Cyrus Greengrass greeted Harry back unhappily before he sat down and the rest of his family didn't even bother to greet Harry, but Harry didn't seem to pay it any mind, and their interaction made Amelia realize that the Greengrasses weren't willing guests.
"Please call me Harry or Hadrian, whatever you prefer and may I call you Amelia? With both of you being Ms Bones, addressing the two of you can become somewhat… confusing" Harry explained.
"Yes, you may call me Amelia and I am surprised that you are finally willing to reveal your true name" Amelia answered back with a smile.
"There is no reason to hide it anymore since my name was already revealed by Dumbledore during the incident a day ago" Harry replied with a polite smile on his face.
Now that he mentioned it, Amelia remembered Dumbledore calling him Hadrian in the memory, but at that time, she didn't pay it any mind as there were other important things to worry about. "By the way, there is someone else who wanted to meet you, but he wasn't invited, so I didn't dare to bring him with us since I wasn't sure about the protections" Amelia said, making Harry raise his brows in interest.
"It is good that you didn't bring him or the result would have been quite… unpleasant" Harry revealed with a frown. "So, where is this person?" Harry asked curiously. He already had a pretty good idea about the identity of the person.
"He is waiting outside my family manor" Amelia answered and moments later, Harry opened a portal, leading to the Bones Manor, surprising the Greengrasses and Susan. Harry already knew where the Bones Manor was, so it was pretty easy for him to open the portal. After a few seconds, Saul Croaker stepped through the portal and unlike the other times, he was dressed in his Unspeakable garbs.
"Mr Croaker" Harry greeted the man as the man stepped through the portal and without wasting any time, Harry closed the portal behind him.
"Mr Potter, thank you for letting me join at such short notice" The man replied pleasantly before he sat down beside Amelia.
"Think, nothing of it, Mr Croaker, now before moving on to business, I would like to thank all of you for accepting my invitation" Harry said with a smile.
"It's not like we had a choice" Cyrus Greengrass grumbled and Harry simply stared at him with a frown.
"Then you should have thought about the consequences before you decided to help Lucius Malfoy with his schemes" Harry said with a frown.
"I did it for my daughter!" Cyrus revealed while gritting his teeth.
"And that is the only reason why you are still breathing" Harry answered coldly, making the man and the rest of his family break out in cold sweat. Amelia felt a chill run down her spine at his casual tone and Susan shuddered before she grabbed Amelia's hand for comfort. "When I came to learn about his scheme, I wanted to kill the both of you as an example, but after learning your reasons, I decided to take it easy on you" Harry explained.
"After all, family is the most important thing to all of us, isn't it?" Harry asked before he leaned back on the couch with an amused look on his face.
Astoria Greengrass was scared out of her mind right now, but she seemed to relax a bit when Daphne squeezed her hand as support…
"What do you want from me?" Cyrus Greengrass finally asked, sounding completely defeated.
"A life for a life… You decided to sell me out to Lucius Malfoy even though you knew that he would kill me, so your daughter, Daphne will join Lost Garden and swear her loyalty to me. I think it's fitting don't you think?" Harry offered his demand.
"No! Impossible!" Cyrus denied as he clutched his hands in anger and Harry simply quirked his brows at the man, but before he could say anything, someone else spoke up.
"I will join Lost Garden, but you have to promise that you will leave my family alone" Daphne agreed with Harry's demand. She was already planning to offer herself and all of her knowledge to Harry to protect her family, so there was no reason to deny his generous offer.
"No, I forbid it!" Cyrus exclaimed in anger, but moments later, he froze in fear when a foreign pressure descended on him.
"You are in no position to deny the olive branch I am offering…" Harry said coldly before the pressure disappeared. Then he turned toward Daphne… "And Ms Greengrass, once again, you are in no position to demand anything from me, but I will leave them alone since they are completely useless to me. The only thing your family has to offer is gold and I don't have a shortage of gold" Harry slowly explained.
Instead of complaining or looking angry, Daphne simply looked relieved… "Thank you for accepting my request" Daphne said in a grateful tone. Yes, she was a prideful woman, but there was a place for pride and arrogance. If joining Harry was going to keep her family safe then she would happily become his bitch and from what she had seen, Harry was not like the Dark Lord.
Unfortunately, she didn't have much choice but to accept his demand… What other choice did she have? She couldn't fight him, so this was probably the best outcome she could have asked for…
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